


Arrhythmia

by aloha_works



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Chronic Illness, Gay Male Character, Hospitals, Kingdom Hearts AU, M/M, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Romance, Serial Killers, Terminal Illnesses, heart condition
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-11
Updated: 2018-12-11
Packaged: 2019-09-16 10:38:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16952457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aloha_works/pseuds/aloha_works
Summary: Ienzo's life was confined to a hospital as he slowly waited to die within its sterile walls, more and more pieces of his broken heart haphazardly covered in band-aids as his name crept up a transplant wait list. When he meets Lea, another boy with a heart condition who is determined to fight his own body into giving him a normal life— Ienzo can’t keep his eyes off of him. Could there be more to living than waiting to die after all?In progress.





	Arrhythmia

* * *

 

**It was almost poetic, in a sense.**  
_A hospital room dedicated to those with broken hearts._

A single blue eye raised to the opening of his door, his daze broken slightly by the arrival of a second bed and the murmur of nurses settling the occupant in on the other side of the room. For lack of a more engaging alternative, he listened to the chatter, familiar words washing over him as they reviewed vitals and diagnoses.

Minutes tapped by on flashing, beeping machines long after the entourage left them alone. And his pulse finally settled, the roaring in his ears fading as silence fell on the room. Ienzo reached slowly for the fabric of the curtain between them, the scratch of metal rings echoing off sterile walls as he drew it back to observe the stranger.

Deep red locks cascaded onto a pillow, like a mane framing a pale, angular face. Tubes and wires creeping out from beneath his blankets, like roots tethering the redhead to Ienzo's reality.

_He was beautiful._

“I… understand. At least, I’d like to believe so.”

Nearly a whisper to the other boy, yet Ienzo’s silence was broken. Perhaps silence wasn’t an apt description… to say the sterile walls muffled the bustling activity outside them was generous at best and a flagrant lie at worst. Not to mention the electronic whirs and beeps within the room that echoed distressingly out of sync between them.

And yet—the silence, objective or symbolic as it may be, broken.

“Of course, the specifics of your condition—no, of course not. I was just listening to your nurses, and I felt.. drawn to you. That was—forward of me,” a lone fingertip began counting out taps of six as his other hand toyed with his bangs, a light rasp of disuse in his tone. “Perhaps I should start over. I’d like to say the doctors here are quite good, but with the frequency of my return visits, who’s truly to say? Though with my father being in the field himself, _he’s rather. . ._

The words poured from his lips—the dam that held back his crippling loneliness crumbling away, hesitant muttering quickly turning to anxious babble. His throat was dry against the words, directionless as he spoke more at the sleeping stranger than to him.

_“You sure talk a hell of a lot.”_

Ienzo’s blood ran cold as the sentence forming on his lips fell into a breathed, _“oh.”_ Time had escaped him, according to the near-empty glass of water in his trembling hand and the clawing soreness in his throat.

A tired laugh followed by a small grunt of pain from the redhead caught his attention again as the other boy turned his head to look Ienzo over. Eyes like emeralds, a shockingly vibrant green he hadn’t been expecting— seeming to dig into him like fingertips running over his skin. Throat drier than ever, Ienzo felt a hot shiver run down his spine. _Embarrassing._

The redhead took on a teasing tone, a smirk tugging at the corner of thin lips. “Y’know, you’ve told me a lot about yourself that—admittedly I will only… vaguely remember, but I don’t think I caught a name.”

“…it’s Ienzo.”

Those eyes examined him again, blearier than before, perhaps scrutinizing? “You… don’t look Italian.”

Ienzo quirked a brow, his tone taking on a dry playfulness in return. “I am not Italian.”

“Oh,” his eyes drifted somewhat, as if he were processing this information deeply, these truly life-changing details that would take a great amount of effort to understand. A recognizable daze from a recognizable set of medications to Ienzo, an agonizingly difficult puzzle to the redhead. The silence stretched on for several moments beyond comfortable before he received a reply. “My name is Lea. You knew that. Just rude to not say so myself.”

Ienzo smiled a bit wider than he had intended, but maintained his joking tone. “Are you Italian?”

Lea’s eyes raised to meet his, and he finally broke into a full smirk. “Nah.”

 

* * *

Act 1 :: Chapter 1


End file.
